“Emergency! Urgent need of six vials of Remdesivir for my friend's father in Hyderabad. Please let me know if you found any source,” an anxious tweeple has put out a request.

“Urgently needed ‘Remdesivir’ injection in Warangal. Please inform me if it is available anywhere,” another person Tweeted on Wednesday.

Acute shortage of anti-viral Remdesivir injections has hit the Covid-19 patients in Hyderabad and a few other towns in Telangana, forcing the kin to run pillar to the post to find a few vials of the injection.

Scores of people have taken to social media, seeking sources to buy the injection.

They formed long queues at a pharma company’s outlet at Kukatpally, hoping to get the required number of injections for their ailing relatives.

Incidents of sales of the injection in the black market have also been reported, with prices ranging from ₹5,000 to ₹25,000 a vial.

State seeks additional supplies

Responding to the problem, Telangana IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao has said that he held discussions with several manufacturers of Remdesivir on Wednesday, seeking additional supplies from them.

“We have made arrangements for over four lakh vials to be made available across all Government hospitals within a week,” he said in a tweet.

Last week, G Srinivasa Rao, Director of Public Health, Government of Telangana, said that the supplies of Remdesivir has been centralised. Eliminating distribution layers, the manufacturers have been asked to supply the injection directly to the needy hospitals.

He also asked the doctors not to indiscriminately prescribe the injection. “Only 2-3 per cent of the patients would require the injection,” he said.

Meanwhile, Telangana has recorded 6,542 positive cases on Tuesday, a new high for the State so far. As many as 20 persons died due to the viral infection.

The State, which tested 1.30 lakh samples, has 46,488 active cases, while 6,542 patients have recovered from the viral infection.

The State administered 1.39 lakh doses on Tuesday, taking the total number of vaccines administered so far to 32.68 lakhs.